


Stone Under Storm

by takadainmate



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:32:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takadainmate/pseuds/takadainmate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsume, Taki, Tanuma and a cat who isn't a cat wait for the rain to pass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stone Under Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



The rain is heavy, the air saturated as the mountain heaves and a great roll of thunder fills the sky. None of the humans are afraid. 

"It's something I haven't seen before," Natsume admits and the other two hum and look thoughtful and curious.

"You don't know what it is? You don't know any of their names?" The girl- the frightening, unnatural girl- asks. She looks slightly disappointed. When Natsume speaks of the youkai around them, speaks _to_ youkai around them that she can neither hear nor see her eyes always fill with a sadness and a longing that Madara doesn't understand. He's sure that Natsume, who has spent his whole life wishing to be free of this other world wouldn't understand it either.

Natsume shrugs, wraps his arms around himself. He's cold; the three of them damp and uncomfortable in the flimsy bus shelter they've taken refuge from the rain in. Madara, though, has known Natsume long enough to know it's more than that. He is protecting himself. Unhappy talking to other humans about the youkai he sees. Not so long ago Natsume would have said nothing at all.

"There was never any reason to. I didn't want to-" Natsume cuts himself off, shakes his head. "I don't know."

Once, deep into a warm summer's night, the din of the cicada outside almost drowning out their whispers, appalled by Natsume's deep and unlikely ignorance of youkai Madara had offered to find him a book. Find him flashcards. Something so that Natsume might know what he was up against, that he would know which youkai to run from and which he could safely coddle. Nastume rufused. 

"It's too much," he'd said, and turned away. Too much like admitting he could see youkai, Madara guessed. Too easy for other people to find, and suspect, and _know_.

Taki- crazy, shifty girl who eyes Madara's form up as he sits on Natsume's lap with covetous eyes- opens her mouth to speak again but Natsume interrupts with the one thing that he knows will distract her.

"The youkai has big eyes," he explains. "Red and yellow. His hair is long and white. He looks happy."

The youkai is a rain-maker; of course it's happy, Madara thinks mulishlsy. His fur is wet and cold and he wants to go home. He has a bottle of sake from the Eastern Mountains hidden away in the back of Natsume's futon cupboard and Madara is _thirsty_. It feels like forever they've been waiting for a bus, and if it takes much longer Madara will carry Natsume back to the Fujiwara's house himself. And he will leave the other two behind.

"Oh!" Taki- with frighteningly wide eyes- exclaims. "Do you think he'd talk to us?" She follows Natsume's gaze longingly. The rain-maker dances, transfixed by the feel of water against its hide. Rain-makers, Madara has long known, are strange creatures to be avoided. 

"It could be dangerous," Tanuma warns. At least the priest's boy has enough sense to be cautious. He squints at the forest, his eyes following the movement of the youkai with enough accuracy that Madara is certain he sees _something_. 

Natsume gives Tanuma a grateful smile, and Tanuma- idiot, human fool that he is- smiles back without hesitation or reserve. Madara is unfortunate enough to see it from his perch and closes his eyes, intending to nap and ignore the humans and their sentimentality and their boring conversation. 

There is a gaggle of green river creatures running through the forest, glorying too in the rainfall- Madara can hear them clomping through the undergrowth like a hoard of angry gods- and Natsume is describing them to Taki, who squeals with delight. As humans do, the three of them press against each other against the cold, warmed by laughter. It was not so long ago that Madara had never seen Natsume do more than smile sadly let alone laugh. Let alone find joy in sharing with others his Sight. 

Tucked between Natsume, and with the proximity of Taki and Tanuma on either side, Madara is willing to be forgiving of the annoying humans: of the girl- Taki's- bizarre obsession with youkai, of Tanuma- the priest boy's- quiet, stoic _interest_ in Natusme, because they are both _warm_. 

The hissing of the rain, the gentle rise and fall of the forest breathing its sighs of relief after a long, dry summer, the rumble of the mountains as they shake off heat lull Madara into a doze. This forest is ancient, mostly undisturbed- for now- and there are many youkai to keep the humans entertained. 

It is when the light breeze shifts, picks up to something stronger that Madara notices something out of place. Something unsettling; a darker, more venomous presense to the east of their shelter. At first it is nothing more than a feeling of vague unwelcome- Madara does not care to move, to protect these three impetuous, incompetent humans because he is sleepy and contented and not in the mood- but it grows, whatever it is moving steadily closer. No doubt drawn to Natsume. His power is a sweet, delicious thing to many, weaker youkai. Madara has no need for a _human's_ power. 

To his right Taki shivers, leans forward slightly to get a better look at the foreboding grey sky. She sighs and says, "I wish the bus would arrive soon. My jacket isn't warm enough."

If they had any kind of sense at all they would know that no amount of clothing would keep this kind of cold out; it's spite and malevolence and anticipation. 

The sky dims and Taki pulls back, pressing closer against Natsume's side, jostling Madara. If it wasn't so much effort Madara might consider scratching her with his claws for the inconvenience. 

Tanuma offers, "You can have my jacket, if you like."

"I couldn't!" Taki shakes her head. "You'll freeze!"

"I don't mind," Tanuma shrugs. Madara always knew the priest's boy wasn't a bright one.

They go on arguing and Madara turns his attention away, towards the approaching threat. It won't be long, he thinks, until Natsume will sense something is wrong too. Its stench is malice. 

It had been a good day, curled up in Natsume's bag, watching the human world go by at its ridiculous frantic pace. Madara will never admit it out loud- can barely believe it himself- that he is loathe for this precarious peace the humans have carved out for themselves to end. In this place, far from their lives of school and rules and _normal_ , here Natsume can truly be himself. Even the rain couldn't dampen their freedom; the humans ran and laughed as their shoes splashed through muddy puddles and their eyes filled with water. Madara will never admit, either, that any of this means anything to him.

Above him Tanuma is trying to force his jacket into Taki's protesting hands. Between them Natsume has fallen silent, looking to where Madara knows the youkai approaches with a vague, puzzled expression on his face.

Madara stirs, sighs heavily, and hops down from Natsume's lap. The ground is already waterlogged, a mess of rain and mud. It's going to ruin his fur.

Natsume frowns. "Sensei." He tries to sound stern. "You're not going back into my bag now. You'll get mud everywhere." 

Madara is tempted to let him be eaten by the demon. 

"Then you can carry me," he tells Natsume, knowing the kind-hearted fool will. "When I get back."

That causes Natsume to sit up and the other two humans to stop arguing. "Where are you going?" Natsume asks, concerned. Concerned for him. It's a strange feeling and Madara hates how he has become used to it- almost expects it. _Likes_ it. 

"I'm going to persuade the rain-maker to offer me some of his sake," he lies. Though now he says it that might not be a bad idea either. Rain-makers make a very fine drink.

Natsume- who trusts far too much- sighs. "If the bus comes I'm leaving you behind," he threatens and it makes Madara laugh.

"Of course you will," Madara agrees, both knowing full well he won't. Madara elects not to tell Natsume that he can sense no other human presence for a very great distance. They will be waiting for a long time to come yet.

The ground under his paws is slippery and soft as Madara makes his way along the edges of the broken-up old road. 

"What do you mean by pursuading him to _offer_ you?" Natsume calls after him- worried again and this time for the well-being of a creature he's never even met; who might sooner eat him than speak with him. Madara calls back something vague in reply before the road turns, curving with the shape of the moutain. The humans are out of sight now and there are more youkai here, all cautious and wary, sensing that something _bad_ is close by too. 

It's a strange thing, Madara thinks. He had no reason to lie to Natsume. He could have been useful in defeating the malevolent youkai. Except Madara knows that Natsume would never have had any part in defeating anything. He would want to talk to the creature, try to reason with it, try to _help it_. Natsume seemed incapable of understanding that there were just some demons who were nothing more than base instinct and teeth. 

A little further along the road Madara re-shapes himself into his true form. He has no patience. He won't reason with this thing.

When he sees it the creature is as Madara expected; oozing bad will and misery and it is _hungry_. It growls at Madara, who plants himself in the middle of the road and waits. This is the only chance he will give it to turn back. To leave them be.

It pauses, maybe considering the threat, or maybe considering if Madara is something that can be eaten- it's impossible to know with demons so warped by their own greed and self interest that they see nothing else of the world but what they can devour. They have no ears to hear and no mouths to speak and their arms are forever grasping for _more_.

It chooses unwisely, shaping itself into what Madara assumes must be a menacing form for lesser creatures. The air around it turns cold, ice creeping along the road at its deformed feet, fanning out, freezing the pupples of water, freezing the rain that falls nearby. 

It is a simple thing to crush the creature with one paw. It tries to fight back, clawing at Madara's leg with its cold, pitiless touch, but it's nothing more than an annoyance. A fly. Madara swats it, tears it apart with his teeth so that this pathetic creature will never annoy them again. Once it is gone, the rain returned to rain rather than snow, the road returned to an empty expanse, Madara turns around, heading back towards Natsume and his idiot friends. Eyes watch him from the undergrowth and the trees that line the road.

He says, "Do you understand now?"

There is a heavy silence. Madara smells their fear. He has no need to say any more; Natsume is his, and whether he eats him or befriends him is no one's business but his own. Madara protects the things that are his. This the other creatures know.

He can still feel their eyes on him when he shakes out his great fur, returns to his smaller form. They watch him still when he comes into sight of the bus shelter. The rain is easing off and the rain-maker is sulking in a tree. Taki laughs as Natsume tells her of its sad, forlorn expression.

"I almost feel bad for him," she smiles. 

"There will be more rain," Tanuma points out. There aren't many humans who could make such obvious statements sound like intellegent comments. 

It's gratifying how Natsume smiles and waves the moment he sees Madara approaching. The idiot human.

"Sensei!" he calls, as though Madara doesn't know he's there- could somehow have missed his stupid face, or the heavy smell of power that always lingers around Natsume.

Just to see Natsume's annoyance Madara ensures that his feet are heavy with water and mud when he hops back up onto Natsume's lap. Natsume, predictably, scowls. The effect though is lost because Natsume then lays a hand gently on Madara's back and brushes some of the rain away. 

"It was cold," he says, which Madara takes it to mean that Natsume was perhaps more perceptive than Madara gave him credit for. Or else he's just complaining that Madara wasn't there to keep his knees warm. It's hard to tell with humans.

His damp fur and his mud encaked legs are uncomfortable and Madara shifts restlessly on Natsume's lap. It's possible he swishes his dirty tail over the priest boy's legs and that he stretches out with muddy paws across Taki's skirt. He enjoys her sqeak of protest and surprise.

"It still _is_ cold," he points out. "You try having such thick, voluminous fur as I do in this weather."

Natsume might scoff and shake his head but he does gather Madara up in his arms, sharing what heat he has, not in the least concerned about the mess he's making of his clothes. 

It's the least Natsume could do considering the number of times Madara has saved the idiot human. 

If Natsume realised anything, if he knows why Madara really left them, he doesn't say anything. It's obvious the Taki girl has no idea because she asks Madara if he found his sake and if he drank it all and why does he like sake so much anyway; it's gross; she had some at new year once; it tasted bad and made her cough. Madara talks to her because she amuses him. He talks to the priest boy because sometimes he proves useful. 

Soon their bus will arrive- Madara can sense the approach of humans, the loud, belching hum of human vehicles- and then they will return to their homes, and Madara will remain with Natsume. To where there is food and warmth and a welcome he's not sure he's ever found in any other place. It's dangerous, he knows. He is no pet and in the end Madara is certain all this _comfort_ will come to an end. Nothing lasts. Not love, nor mountains, nor friendship. And certainly not between humans and youkai. It isn't how their worlds work. These things, one day, Natsume will learn.

But for now Madara will talk to Natsume, and he will protect him, and for as long as he can he will do everything possible to keep Natsume for himself. Safe. Well. His _friend_.

**END**


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